A formal consultation into plans to revamp councils in Wales will be launched in January, local government secretary Mark Drakeford has said.
In a speech to the Welsh Local Government Association’s annual conference yesterday (Thursday), Mr Drakeford said formal consultation into the plans will be held in January and will conclude before next May’s local government elections.
Following that, a new Local Government Bill will be developed and presented to the Senedd later in the year.
Last month Mr Drakeford unveiled a new version of the plan after a previous model, which involved cutting the number of councils in Wales from 22 to just eight or nine, including merging Newport, Monmouthshire, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly, failed to win support from AMs.
The new model will involve councils working together to run services, with the option of voluntary mergers remaining open.
Mr Drakeford said: “I have listened carefully about the corrosive impact that uncertainty has had on our councils and I’m mindful of the fact that we’ve not been able to agree a way forward in the past.
“I’ve now set out a new set of proposals based on an enhanced level of systematic and mandatory regional working.
“I think we’re all aware that there is a real reputational risk to local government if we can’t move forwards on these proposals.”
“We simply can’t afford to step back.”
The Labour minister said he believed it was important to remember why reform was so important.
“Councils provide the services which touch everybody’s lives every day, whether it’s educating our children, looking after our elderly, disposing of our waste or lighting our streets,” he added.
“That is why we need to create a new relationship between the public and their local councils.”
“If we’re going to do this, then we need to see a cultural shift.”
Although some services and functions will continue to be run as they are currently, others will service multiple councils. For example waste collection could remain the responsibility of each individual local authority, while social services departments cross council borders.
Mr Drakeford said he believed the planned changes would set a positive path for the future.
“I want local authorities to use the next 18 months to think about the future pressures they are going to face,” he said.
He added he hoped the plans would herald “a new beginning” in the Welsh Government’s relationship with councils across Wales.
“In order to do this we must develop trust, a willingness to work together and to compromise, as well as a mutual appreciation of our respective but distinctive roles in improving outcomes for people in Wales,” he said.
Mr Drakeford has previously said all councillors elected in council elections across Wales next May will serve a full five-year term until 2022.
